That night, Song Jun finished washing his clothes and went to bed early. He turned off the lights in the dormitory room, and after his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw the light from outside the window shining in, leaving strange black shadows on the wall, which were all shadows of tree branches.
Song Jun yawned, turned over, closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.
On the first night at the new school, Song Jun fell asleep deeply. In the second half of the night, it seemed like he had a dream, but the dream was very vague and unreal. He dreamt that he was either kneeling or sitting on the ground, with someone standing beside him. However, he could only see the person’s legs. When he tried to lift his head to see the face, the sunlight shone into his eyes, and he couldn’t see anything clearly.
When Song Jun woke up the next day, he found that it was already past ten in the morning, and the sun was shining brightly outside the window. He stretched out his hand to rub his eyes and felt that he should install curtains.
After getting dressed and opening the door, Song Jun subconsciously glanced at the door opposite. It was still closed at this time, but of course, Song Jun wouldn’t think that Senior Brother Xia was still in the room now. He had probably gone out long ago.
At noon, he went to the cafeteria to apply for a meal card and had lunch alone. He then wandered around the school in the afternoon.
Song Jun had been to campus before the re-examination, but this was the first time for him to wander around the campus so leisurely.
In the afternoon, Song Jun received a call from Bu Hui, asking him to have dinner with him that evening.
Song Jun was very happy but a little embarrassed and said quickly, “Let me treat you to dinner. Thank you for helping me move my things yesterday.”
Bu Hui said, “Why are you so polite? It’s only natural that the senior invites the junior. Let’s go back to the dormitory first, and we’ll go out to eat together later.”
Song Jun responded, “Okay.”
After hanging up the phone, he saw that it was almost five o’clock in the afternoon and walked towards the dormitory.
Entering the dormitory door, Song Jun was halfway up the wooden stairs when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Senior Brother Xia, the one he had seen across the hall yesterday.
Song Jun remembered that he still didn’t know the name of Senior Brother Xia, so he nodded and greeted him, “Senior Brother Xia, you got back so early?”
The slender and handsome young man nodded expressionlessly and then walked upstairs. When he was about to pass Song Jun, he suddenly said, “Isn’t there a dinner invitation tonight?”
Song Jun was stunned and realised that Bu Hui must have invited Senior Brother Xia to have dinner with him. He nodded and said, “I’ll wait for Senior Brother Bu to return.”
Later, when they went out for dinner together at night, Song Jun learned that Senior Brother Xia’s full name was actually Xia Hongshen.
On the surface, Xia Hongshen appeared to be very aloof, but his actual personality might not be as distant. At least, that could be seen from Bu Hui’s attitude towards him.
Bu Hui was a very outgoing person. No matter whether Xia Hongshen talked to him or not, he could continue talking to Xia Hongshen without any problem. When they talked about something interesting, he would bump Xia Hongshen with his elbow and laugh.
Song Jun watched the two of them, genuinely afraid that Xia Hongshen might have a falling out with Bu Hui. Fortunately, though Xia Hongshen didn’t show a happy expression, he also didn’t look the least bit upset. He listened attentively to whatever Bu Hui had to say.
Bu Hui might have seen that Song Jun was a little cautious towards Xia Hongshen, so he said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Senior Brother is very nice. If you need any help in the future, you can come to him.” At this point, Bu Hui suddenly remembered something, “Oh, by the way, Senior Brother Xia, wasn’t your former master’s degree mentor Zhou Yingchun?”
Song Jun was stunned when he heard this and looked at Xia Hongshen.
It happened that Xia Hongshen also looked towards him and said, “Yes.”
Bu Hui smiled and patted Song Jun, “Hurry up, this is your senior brother brought out by your boss. Don’t you want to toast to show respect?”
When Song Jun heard what Bu Hui said, he immediately went to get the beer glass next to him, picked it up and said, “I’d like to toast you, Senior Brother Xia.”
Xia Hong looked at him deeply for a while.
When Song Jun almost thought that he would ignore him and was about to turn red, Xia Hongshen picked up the wine glass, clinked it with him, and drank it all in one gulp.
The three of them enjoyed the meal quite happily. Although Song Jun was introverted and shy, and Xia Hongshen didn’t like to talk, as long as Bu Hui was around, they would never be silent.
When they were about to finish the meal, Song Jun saw a girl walking in from outside the restaurant, walked up to Bu Hui, and punched him.
Bu Hui turned around and saw the girl and said, “Ouch, why are you back? Isn’t this just a dinner party?”
After saying that, Bu Hui quickly introduced Song Jun, “This is my girlfriend, Cheng Ruijing.” Then he pointed at Song Jun and said to his girlfriend, “The new junior brother, Song Jun.”
Cheng Ruijing sat down next to Bu Hui and said, “Your boss?”
Bu Hui shook his head, “No, we got new physical evidence that lives in our dormitory.”
Cheng Ruijing laughed when she heard this, “Your dormitory is like a haunted house.” After that, she greeted Xia Hongshen with a smile, “Senior Brother Xia, I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
Xia Hongshen nodded, “Hello.”
“Do you want to eat?” Bu Hui asked Cheng Ruijing.
Cheng Ruijing shook her head, “I won’t eat. I was halfway through the meal when Senior Sister Tian got into an argument with her boyfriend on the phone, and then she ran away. They went after her, so I came over first.”
“Aren’t you going to go after her?” Bu Hui asked.
Cheng Ruijing said, “Why should I chase her? I’m not close with her, so it’s very troublesome.”
Song Jun picked up the beer glass and took a sip silently. Since Cheng Ruijing came over, Bu Hui had been busy talking to her, and Song Jun and Xia Hongshen’s side immediately went silent.
He felt a little awkward, so he had to pretend to listen carefully to Bu Hui and the two of them. Occasionally, he turned his head to look at Xia Hongshen and found that Xia Hongshen was looking at him.
Xia Hongshen’s pupils were very dark, not brown like ordinary people, but like a deep dark pool. Song Jun looked at him for a while and suddenly realised that he was distracted by looking at him. He quickly turned his head and stretched out his hand to scratch his face.
After dinner, Bu Hui left with his girlfriend, and Song Jun and Xia Hongshen walked back to the dormitory with very little conversation. After they returned, Song Jun closed the door and sat on the bedside, feeling relieved.
After that, two days passed without Song Jun seeing Xia Hongshen again. However, at night, while he sat in his room reading, he would sometimes hear the sound of Xia Hongshen going upstairs. It would be followed by the unhurried sound of footsteps reaching the door across from his room. The door would be unlocked with a key, and then there would be a ‘thud’ as the door closed.
Song Jun then returned to his senses and continued to read.
On Monday, he officially reported to his mentor.
Zhou Yingchun chatted with him for a long time, discussing the current research projects on hand and delving into detailed plans for experiments. Afterwards, she asked him to go back, search for relevant articles online, and simultaneously collect experimental samples while preparing to do the experiments.
Song Jun had an old laptop, but there was no broadband in the dormitory, so he called Bu Hui and asked if he could pull the cable from Bu Hui.
Bu Hui asked him to wait in the dormitory at night.
In the end, it was Xia Hongshen who came back to help him pull the cable that night. They all used a broadband line in their dormitory. The router was at Xia Hongshen’s place. There was no wifi network, so they all used open lines.
While Xia Hongshen helped him with the network cable, Song Jun stood by, feeling like he couldn’t be of much assistance.
When it was done, Song Jun said with some embarrassment: “Thank you, Senior Brother Xia, let me buy you a drink.”
After extending the invitation, Song Jun was a little uneasy, but Xia Hongshen gently pulled the lapel of his shirt, revealing his beautiful collarbone, and answered, “Okay.”
After Song Jun heard this, he quickly took out his wallet and invited Xia Hongshen to go to the school canteen with him.
Although it was midsummer, the campus was still relatively cool at night. There were many couples around, passing by them one after another.
Song Jun, who had nothing to say, felt a little embarrassed. He looked up at the sky, looking around to see if there was a moon or stars in the sky. Maybe he could say, ‘The moon is so round tonight.’
In the end, before he could see the moon, Song Jun suddenly noticed something falling on a tall building next to the fork on the right.
Song Jun stopped suddenly, and then he heard the screams of girls and someone shouting, “Someone jumped off the building!”
The originally leisurely and quiet campus atmosphere suddenly became tense. Song Jun saw many people running in that direction. He subconsciously wanted to follow them, but Xia Hongshen suddenly grabbed his arm.
Song Jun was stunned and looked up at Xia Hongshen.
But he saw Xia Hongshen frowning slightly and looking in the direction of the building.
The two of them finally went over. The building was the Faculty of Pharmacy, and it was more than ten stories high. Song Jun just happened to see the man jumping down from the building, probably from the rooftop.
The person who jumped was a girl, and a crowd had gathered around her. She had already passed away.
Campus security arrived quickly, followed by an ambulance and police cars. Students were evacuated, and police officers with cameras began taking photographs.
Song Jun and Xia Hongshen left.
But Song Jun was slightly in a daze afterwards. He never forgot the scene when he saw the person jumping down from the building and the crimson blood spreading around the girl when he was lying on the ground.
In the evening, he still took a shower in the water room. When he returned to the room, Song Jun turned on the fan and blew it on himself, feeling slightly uncomfortable in his heart.
After a while, someone suddenly knocked hard on the door outside.
Song Jun was startled, and when he heard Bu Hui calling him, he felt relieved and walked over to open the door.
When Bu Hui saw Song Jun, he looked mysterious and asked, “Did you know that someone jumped off the building at school today?”
Song Jun didn’t say that he saw it with his own eyes but just nodded.
Bu Hui said to him, “Do you know who that is?”
Song Jun shook his head.
Bu Hui said, “She was from the Faculty of Pharmacy. She was from the same teaching and research department as my girlfriend. Her surname was Tian. They said she had a fight with her boyfriend and then committed suicide by jumping off the building.”
Song Jun heard this and sighed, “Why bother? It’s such a pity.”
Bu Hui leaned against his door and said, “Yeah, I also find it regrettable. It’s just a relationship; there’s no need to take it so hard.”
At this time, the opposite door suddenly opened, and Xia Hongshen came out with a basin and towel in his hand, looking like he was going to bathe in the water room.
When he saw this, Bu Hui hurriedly came over and said, “Senior Brother Xia, are you taking a bath? Want to join?”
Xia Hongshen didn’t say anything. Bu Hui was obviously just joking. After saying that, he walked towards his own room.
Song Jun closed the door and thought of the girl who jumped off the building again. He pulled his hair and told himself to stop thinking about it.
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